Stinky Crow
by RinsDarkMagician
Summary: Cain wants to protect Mary Weather from everything, even fairy tales he considers too graphic. However, Mary will always find a way around Cain's strict rules.
1. Stinky Crow

**So I heard this "fairy tale" in a video game I was playing the other day. It intrigued me and I couldn't get it out of my mind. It was just so...grisly. I didn't tell it as accurately as I could have, but for the context of this story it works perfectly ^_^ Oh and once again I always say that my stories revolve around the ending my friend wrote yadda, yadda. Yes I know I say that every time I post a Godchild story, but I just don't want people to be confused about how Jizabel and Cassian are living with Cain and such. Read Kare Uta's GC stories. Alrighty! Enjoy! **

"Mary, hug me!"

As soon as Mary Weather heard the voice she jumped to the left and avoided being grabbed by Oscar. What was he thinking trampling towards her like a rhino? She shook her head and sat down on the couch, cringing as she felt Oscar sit right next to her. He put his arm around her, not noticing how she tensed up.

"I had the worst nightmare, Mary!" he said with a sad look. "It was about that stupid fairy tale, Stinky Crow. Damn, I hate that story so much. I dreamed I was the kid! Can you believe it?"

Oscar had her at "fairy tale." If there was one thing Mary Weather loved it was a good fairy tale. She loved those old poems and nursery rhymes and fables. She would often hum them to herself or repeat the stories in her head just to keep herself entertained. As much as she wanted to ignore Oscar she couldn't help the excitement she felt at hearing about a fairy tale, especially one she had never heard of before.

"Stinky Crow?" she said. "I don't think I've heard that one."

"You haven't?" Oscar asked surprised. "Well, consider yourself lucky. I hate that fairy tale. It makes me shiver." He shivered just once for good measure and to make sure Mary had gotten his point. However, she didn't care.

"That makes me more interested!" she cried. "Tell me the story, Oscar!" She looked at him with huge puppy eyes, knowing he wouldn't be able to resist her. She watched him thinking about whether to share the tale with her or not, but after a few moments he gave a sigh and rubbed the back of his head.

"If you insist."

Mary got comfortable on the couch and stared at Oscar intently, waiting for him to start the story.

"Once upon a time there was a boy named Elliot. Elliot spent most of his time outside watching birds. He loved birds so much. He envied their wings and wished he had a pair of his own. So one day, Elliot decided to make himself wings."

Mary rolled her eyes. "So he's Icarus?"

"It's different than Icarus!" Oscar argued. "Just listen, okay?" he cleared his throat and began again. "So, Elliot worked all day on his wings until his mom called him in for dinner. He went inside and ate in silence, though his mom was complaining to his dad about every little thing. However, daddy was too busy with his paperwork from his job to even notice her or Elliot for that matter! Elliot stared out of the window, watching the birds fly by when his mom suddenly said 'Elliot! You smell so bad! You're always outside playing in the dirt! It's disgusting! You're like a little street rat!' Elliot just smiled to himself and kept staring out the window."

"What a horrible mother," Mary interjected.

"A terrible mom indeed!" Oscar agreed. "Daddy isn't any better. And neither were the kids at his school! Elliot was always picked on by the other students. They would make fun of his artwork in class because no matter what the teacher told them to draw, he would always draw birds. The kids also hated the way he smelled, just like him mom. 'Stinky crow! You're just a nasty, stinky, ugly crow!' they would say to him. And he would respond with 'You guys can go to hell!'"

"He should respond that way! They shouldn't be making fun of him like that! I bet if they knew what his home was like then maybe they wouldn't be so mean to him!"

"Perhaps," Oscar answered Mary. "But they didn't know. And they continued to make fun of poor Elliot. Then after the school day Elliot would go home and listen to his mom nag and watch his father ignore them both. The highlight of his day would be when he found the time to work on his wings. Those wings and the birds that flew around his yard were the only things that kept him going."

"I feel so bad for Elliot." Mary said.

Oscar wasn't sure if he should continue with the story or not. The point of the story wasn't to feel bad for Elliot at all. He thought he must have been telling it wrong. "You know, Mary, Elliot was just as mean to those kids as they were to him."

"He wouldn't have to be if they didn't make fun of him all the time!" Mary yelled.

Oscar was starting to regret even bringing the story up in the first place. He hated this story so much and he didn't want Mary to feel bad for it's main character. He frankly didn't want her to know about the story at all! However, there was no way out now. He had to finish the story or Mary would never leave him alone about it.

"Well, eventually after many days Elliot had finished his wings. The next day all of the students were standing around on the playground when Elliot had appeared in his makeshift bird outfit. They stared for a moment and then burst out laughing. 'Look at Stinky Crow!' they yelled while laughing."

"Stinky Crow?"

Both Mary and Oscar looked to the door as they saw Cain and Riff walk in. The look on Cain's face said that he was not happy at all. "Why are you telling Mary that hideous story?"

Oscar smiled nervously and shrugged. "She asked me to, Cain. How can I say no?"

"Easy," was Cain's response. "Just tell her no!"

"Cain!" Mary yelled. "I want to finish the story! How bad can it be?"

Cain sat down in a chair across from the two of them. "Horrible. I hate that story so much. It makes me shiver."

"Me too!" Oscar said loudly. "See, Mary! I'm not the only one who hates this story."

Mary looked to Riff for help, though she knew he wouldn't disobey his master. As long as Cain was here there was no way Oscar was going to finish the story for her. She put on a smile worthy of a prize and stood. "That's fine then. I'll be in my room if anyone needs me!"

The three men watched her storm off and just as Riff was about to say something to Cain, most likely about his treatment of Mary, he cut him off with his hand. He simply did not want to talk about it.

Mary made her way up the stairs, though instead of turning to go to her room she went in the opposite direction. She knocked quietly on one of the many doors in the hallway and smiled as someone told her to come in. She walked inside to see Cassian sitting on the edge of the bed and Jizabel brushing his hair in the mirror.

"Hello, Mary," Cassian said with a smile. "What brings you here?"

She ran and jumped on the bed, taking a spot next to Cassian. "I was wondering if one of you could tell me the fairy tale, Stinky Crow."

"Stinky Crow?" Jizabel asked, stopping the brush for a second.

"I hate that story." Cassian said. "It makes me shiver."

"You too? Why does everyone hate that story?" Mary asked.

Jizabel turned in his chair while still running the brush through his hair. "It's not a popular fairy tale.. Even I feel some distaste for it. What brought about you wanting to know it?"

Mary explained to him how Oscar had mentioned it because of a dream he had. She told them how curious she was about all fairy tales and how she never heard this particular story before.

"He stopped at the part where Elliot walked into the school in his bird outfit. Then Cain appeared and told him not to tell me the rest."

Cassian chucked at that. "Ever the protective brother," he said more to himself than anyone.

"It's just a story!" Mary cried. "Surely he can't protect me from something that's intangible!"

"The emotional trauma that comes from hearing a tale of a certain type can be devastating, Mary," Jizabel said. He knew all too well how just hearing something can send someone into a deep depression. "I can see why he wouldn't want you to hear the story."

Mary gave him a disappointed look. "Does that mean you aren't going to tell me the rest of it?"

Jizabel laughed. "Of course I will," he said. He put his brush down and crossed his legs with his arms folded on them, ready to tell Mary the rest of fairy tale.

"Jizabel…." Cassian said in a warning voice.

"What? Cain told Oscar not to tell her the story, not me. Besides, Cassian, if I really felt she couldn't handle it then I wouldn't say a word. Now, you said you stopped when Elliot wore his bird costume to the school?"

Mary nodded her head excitedly. She knew coming to these two would be better than arguing with Cain. She did notice the troubled look on Cassian's face, though she figured he was probably more worried about getting in trouble with Cain than about her hearing the story. If he was really concerned about her hearing the story because of it's content then he would have put up more of a fight.

"Elliot walked into the school in his makeshift bird costume. All of the students pointed and laughed and called him names. What they didn't expect Elliot to do was run back inside and climb to the top of the school building. They watched in awe as he stood there for a moment and then jumped, their eyes and cries of amazement keeping him afloat."

"Did he really fly?" Mary asked, unable to contain her enthusiasm. "Was he really able to stay in the air?"

Cassian scoffed. "You didn't finish your sentence Jizabel."

Mary looked from Cassian to Jizabel, who was smirking at her and giving her a skeptical look. "Honestly, Mary, you're smarter than that. If you put on a bird costume and jumped from the top of this house what would happen?"

Mary hesitated before answering, all of that enthusiasm sucked right out of her body. "I would fall."

Jizabel nodded. He closed his eyes and continued the story. "They watched in awe as he stood there for a moment and then jumped, their eyes and cries of amazement keeping him afloat…for all of two seconds. The teachers worked hard to wipe bits and pieces of Elliot off the crying children. One teacher stared at the body and noticed his mangled face had a grin on it. For the first time in his life he had felt true happiness. The end."

Mary was quiet for a bit after that. Cassian and Jizabel looked at each other and for a moment they thought that perhaps they shouldn't have told her the end of the story.

"Mary?" Cassian asked softly, putting a hand on her back.

"Such a horrible story," she whispered.

Cassian nodded his head. "It sucks the happiness right out the room, huh?" he said with a laugh, simply trying to lighten the mood.

"If those children hadn't made fun of him so much and called him names then maybe…maybe…."

Jizabel just shook his head. "I've come across a lot of cruel people in my time, Mary Weather, and I'm being completely honest when I say that when it comes to unmerciful beings children are very close to the top of the list."

Mary wanted to argue with him, but she knew it was true. Children often bore neither feelings nor remorse when it came to teasing or hurting. There were a few exceptions, just like with adults, but for the most part children were just as cruel as some adults.

Mary closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again she graced the two men with a large smile. "Well, as depressing a story as that was I can't let it get to me. Thanks for telling me the story, Jizabel!" She looked over at Cassian and patted his hand. "And thanks for letting him tell it to me, Cassian."

He laughed and patted her tiny hand back. "You're welcome. Listen, Mary, I know and Jizabel knows that a story won't break you completely, although even I was hesitant to tell you that heartbreaking and grisly story. Be gentle with Cain. He just wants to protect you."

"Even from fairy tales?"

"Even from fairy tales."

Mary nodded her head. She didn't want to make any promises to Cassian about being gentle with Cain, but she did have an idea that would probably get Jizabel excited.

"I think I'll make up my own fairy tale!" she said, skipping to the door. "One Cain will be sure to love!"

Jizabel and Cassian looked at each other as the girl left the room. Jizabel's face held amusement and intrigue while Cassian's face held worry and concern. Though they were both feeling different emotions the same thought was running through their heads: what kind of fairy tale would Mary Weather create for her dear brother?


	2. The Captive Nightingale

Cain stared at Jizabel's elongated body that was stretched across the couch. He wasn't sure if Jizabel was trying to annoy or him or show him that he trusted him. On the other side of the couch was Cassian who cradled Jizable's head in his lap. Cain on the hand had the pleasure of cradling Jizabel's feet, who so generously propped them up on his lap. He glanced over at Cassian who just smiled and shrugged.

"This is my life," Cain said in a low voice.

"A grand life it is, Master Cain," Riff said while pouring Cassian some tea.

Cassian graciously accepted it, careful not to wake the sleeping Jizabel. As much as Cain wanted to knock his brother's feet off of him, he decided that Jizabel still needed to rest. It would be better for him to just accept what was going on rather than fight it.

"I can take him to our room if you want," Cassian offered, seeing the slightly bothered look on Cain's face.

Cain just shook his head, taking the tea Riff gave him. "I suppose I'll live."

"You would do the same thing, Master Cain," Riff told him.

"Prop my feet up on unsuspecting people? Absolutely not, Riff."

"Oh yes you would and you have before."

"And when I have I done such a thing?"

"Several times with me and I believe once at your uncle's Christmas party you did it to one of the Lord's daughters! Also there was the time…."

Cassian grinned as he listened to Cain and Riff argue back and forth. This was the first time he had ever heard them bicker like this. It amused him. Most the time when he saw the two of them together Riff would act very formal, as a butler should. However, Cassian had been hoping to see them interact with each other as they would when there was no one around. He was happy to be finally witnessing it.

"Riff, stop talking!" Cain said.

"Just one more, sir. There was also the time when we went out to have tea with-"

"We're back!"

"We're in the parlor!" Cain called immediately at the sound of Mary Weather's voice. He was happy she had appeared. It was the perfect time to shut Riff up. Riff gave a knowing smile and began to pour more tea, knowing in his heart that he won this round with Cain.

Mary Weather and Oscar appeared in the room and they noticed Jizabel lying across the couch on Cassian and Cain. She put her finger to her lips and shushed Oscar, though he hadn't even said a word. She waved happily to everyone and took a seat across the couch from them.

"You'll never believe what we saw in the square, Cain!"

Cain gave Mary a small smile. "What did you see?"

"There was an orchestra, but it only had four people in it! Can you believe it?" Oscar said before Mary could get a word out. That earned him a jab in his side by Mary's little arm. He held himself as Mary looked at Cain and repeated exactly what Oscar had just said, though the look on Cain's face said he wasn't impressed.

"Not much of an orchestra then, huh?"

He ignored the look of aggravation on Mary's face and focused on Cassian who had begun to speak.

"I've seen them a few times before. They're really good for only having four people."

"The pianist had to have been only about my age, Cain!" Mary said excitedly. Riff put a hand on her shoulder and pointed to Jizabel and she knew she needed to keep her voice down. "He was so amazing! His piano playing was great!"

Oscar just shook his head. "It was all about that vocalist. Voice like an angel, Cain! Beautiful too, but not as beautiful as my Mary Weather!"

Mary just rolled her eyes and continued. "I was so impressed! We pretty much just spent the whole time watching them!"

Cain turned his face away and sipped his tea. "Sounds lovely."

Mary's face once again held annoyance. The least Cain could do was pretend to care! She glanced around at everyone before deciding on what to do next. The looks on Cassian and Riff's faces said they knew she was thinking of an evil plot. The face she gave back to them told them that they were right.

"Well," Mary began. "That vocalist inspired me to think of a fairy tale!"

Cassian's face went pale. He knew exactly what was coming next. "You know, Mary, now's probably not the best time…."

"It's perfect! We're not doing anything, right? Since I never finished that crow story I had to make up my own fairy tale to entertain myself."

Cain flinched a bit as she mentioned the story he never let her finish. He wanted to tell her to forget it, but he knew she would hold it against him for a while. He figured he could appease her anger some by listening to her silly fairy tale. He gave a loud sigh and focused his attention on his sister.

"I'm interested in hearing this."

The look of dread on Cassian's face did not go unnoticed by Riff. The butler somehow knew that this little tale of hers wouldn't be as cute as she wanted them to think. However, he somehow feared Mary Weather's anger a bit more than Cain's so he didn't dare stop her. He sat down, kept his mouth shut, and listened to her story.

"The vocalist at the square inspired me to make up this story!" Mary began. "This is a story about an opera singer named, Maria. Maria's voice touched the lives and hearts of everyone who listened to it. She was famous; everyone knew her name! She was the most loved opera singer around! However, Maria wasn't happy at all. Her body wasn't what she wanted it to be! She felt trapped in her own skin and she couldn't break free!"

"What does that mean?" Oscar interrupted her.

Riff brought his hand to his chin. "I assume she means that Miss Maria wasn't the most…divinely shaped woman around."

A snicker came from Mary Weather's mouth. "That's a nice way to phrase it. To say it bluntly, she was a bigger woman. She had no one to blame but herself. She loved eating and no matter how big she got she did nothing to try to lose the weight. She just kept eating and singing. She would often complain about her other opera companions. She hated the way they looked. All of them were skinny and pretty and though they didn't have her powerful and beautiful voice she was still jealous of them."

"She sounds obnoxious," Cain said.

Cassian just shook his head. "I can relate."

Everyone got silent as Cassian spoke up. He looked around at each of them before giving an awkward smile. "No! I'm sorry that kind of came out wrong! See, I mean…people are envious of kids because of their youth. They run and jump and play and adults wish they could do that so when they saw me they would think the same things. And yes, I was talented in that I was pretty athletic, but regardless of how talented I was I wished I could have a different body."

Mary looked at the ground and swung her legs back and forth in her chair. "I'm sorry, Cassian. I didn't even consider…."

"It's okay, Mary!" Cassian said quickly, for the first time wishing Jizabel wasn't laying on his lap so he could go to her. "Really, I feel no sadness in hearing your story! Besides she made herself fat! I didn't have much of a choice…oh! I'm sorry, Mary I shouldn't have said that!" By this point Cassian had become so flustered his face had turned bright red. "Please continue with the story!"

"Yeah, Mary! Continue!" Oscar interjected quickly. He decided to step in, seeing as how Cassian wasn't helping the situation at all. When he noticed Mary hesitated to continue he got up and touched Cassian on his head. "Well…if this is where the story ends then the moral is…it's horrible to be fat! So Cass, no matter how young you looked it could have been worse! You could always have been fat!"

Cain couldn't help but laugh at that. He covered his mouth as Riff gave him a look, though that didn't help silence the laughter. When the butler noticed Mary had cracked a smile and even Cassian had begun laughing he relaxed a bit.

"Just imagine, Cassian," Cain said between his laughs. "Jizabel would have had no use for you if you were fat!"

"I know!" Cassian cried. "Yes, people are envious of kids, but fat kids?" he shook his head quickly. "No one's envious of that!"

"So!" Oscar said, sitting back down and straightening his jacket while waiting for the others to stop laughing. "I think Maria is a hell of a lot worse off than you were, Cass! Mary! Go ahead and tell us the tragic story of the largest opera singer known to man."

Mary had to control her giggles before she could even think about talking. She waited until Cain and Cassian controlled their laughter and then she was finally able to speak again.

"So…Maria is fat. We are aware of that. And she's not very happy about it! She would whine and complain and just never shut up about the way she looked. However, one of her friends named, Henry, saw past her body to see the woman inside. After one show she went back to her room and Henry followed her. She sat at her mirror and didn't bother to look at him as she ate her chocolates.

'Another wonderful performance,' Henry said.

Maria just shook her head. 'All they look at is my stomach! I hate the way I look! Sometimes I think I would give my voice to the devil if he promised me a better looking body!'

Henry had heard it all before. He had been there for Maria through long days and long nights. He had listened to her complain about how big she was. He had heard her say horrible things about herself and her fellow opera singers. He had heard her threaten to hurt herself. And tonight was the night that he couldn't take it anymore. He left after throwing away some items he brought for her, though Maria didn't even notice he was gone. Shortly after he left she attempted to heave back up the chocolates she had just eaten. She positioned herself over her trash can and was about to shove her fingers down her throat when she noticed the flowers and the note at the bottom of the can. She picked up the note and read it.

'My dearest Maria, I know how you feel about yourself, but please know there is nothing wrong with you. You have stolen my heart, Maria, and that itself is a large feat.'

'Large feat? Is that some type of joke on my body, Henry?' Maria screamed after reading the note. She threw the note back in the trash can and stood up. 'I'll show you a large feat!'

So Maria disappeared for months. She wouldn't come out of her fancy apartment. She never conversed with the mailman and Henry never bothered to check on her again. She wouldn't answer the door to her friends and her landlord couldn't even get her to talk to him. He was lenient on her for rent though, but finally enough had been enough. He had used his set of keys to open her door and gasped at what he saw inside. Sitting there in a chair was a gorgeous and skinny woman. She was naked and for a moment the landlord thought that there was no way it could have been Maria, but there was no mistaking the face. Her face had a strange grin on it and in the former opera singer's hands she held her own vocal cords, ripped straight from her throat."

Mary waited a minute to take in everyone's reactions, especially Cain's. His mouth was open in shock, his eyes as wide as saucers. To her that was a mission accomplished.

"The end!" she said happily. She stood up and bowed and thanked them for listening to her story. Then she skipped away, humming a nursery rhyme to herself.

The four men sat in stunned silence. They certainly weren't expecting that to come from the little Mary Weather. None of them even looked at each other. They were simply dwelling on the story they had just heard; the morbid, horrid, sick story that had been made up and told by Cain's baby sister. Everyone jumped as the silence was broken by someone giggling. They looked around and realized it hadn't been one of them. It had been the supposedly sleeping Jizabel.

"That was some story," Jizabel said, sitting up. He sat calmly in between Cain and Cassian, glancing at their disturbed faces. "I kind of like it. I might find some children to tell it to."

"Jizabel…." Cain said in a low voice.

"You weren't sleeping?" Riff asked him.

"I was. It's pretty hard to sleep with Oscar's loud voice ringing through the air."

Oscar didn't held his tongue simple because Cain had warned him about how to talk to Jizabel, but he wanted to go over there and hit the man in the face. Instead he took a deep breath and said "You actually liked that story?"

"Listen, little brother," Jizabel said, ignoring Oscar and focusing on Cain. "How would you feel if you were an orphan and I took you in from the cold, hard streets of London and gave you a warm bed, a roof over your head, hot food, and everything you could ever want? Grateful, correct?" He didn't wait for Cain to answer the question before continuing. "However, how would you feel if I told you I didn't want you reading a bedtime story because it seemed like it was a bit too gruesome for you? You wouldn't like that very much now would you?"

Cain didn't say anything, though Jizabel's point didn't get missed by him.

"How would you like it if I told you that you couldn't wander the streets by yourself, even though I know you obviously are accustomed to them? How would you feel if I monitored your every move? If I monitored what your read, what you did, who you surrounded yourself with, who you-"

"Enough!" Cain yelled, obviously getting frustrated. "I hear you, Jizabel."

Cassian put a hand on Jizabel's shoulder. As much as Jizabel wanted to ignore it he turned around and looked into Cassian's face. He actually looked a bit upset which surprised Jizabel. All it took was those eyes looking at him and he knew he had been a little rough on Cain. He sighed and shook his head, looking back at his brother.

"What I'm trying to say is you're a little over protective. Mary Weather is mature. She's not an adult exactly, but she's no child. And she thinks that the only way you'll take her seriously is if she proves to you that she can handle those things you want to protect her from."

As much as Cain didn't want to hear it he knew Jizabel was right. He realized he spent a lot of his time apologizing to Mary for various things and one of those things was treating her like a kid. It hurt him to think that he had made her get to that point. She felt she had to show him how much of an adult she was and luckily it was only through a story. She could have shown him in so many other ways and….

He didn't want to think about what could have happened. He got up and headed toward the hallway. He heard a pair of feet following him and before the person could even reach him he turned around and embraced them.

"I didn't mean to make her that upset, Riff. I just wanted to protect her."

Riff wrapped his arms around his master and held him close. He pressed his lips against his hair and kept them there. "I know, Cain. I know. Miss Mary is stronger than both of us know. There's nothing wrong with protecting her and keeping her safe. You should always do that. The only thing she's asking for is a little breathing room."

"Yeah, Cain."

The two men turned towards the sound of the voice to see Mary standing in front of them. She had never gone to her room at all. She walked towards Cain and held his hand in hers.

"A little breathing room would be nice. I don't ever want you to stop protecting me. I just want…."

Cain smiled at her. "A little breathing room."

She nodded. Cain moved away from Riff to bend down and give his sister a hug.

"Why don't you make up a new fairy tale for me; one that won't remind me so much of that crow story? And tell Jizabel if he tells you something I told him not to I'll personally introduce him to my poison collection."

"Will do!" Mary said excitedly. Riff watched the two of them walk back into the parlor. Perhaps Mary could find inspiration to make up a new, happier fairy tale. Before going back to the parlor he made his way to the kitchen to make more tea for everyone, all the while humming nursery rhymes to himself.


End file.
